Death of Putin critic in India shrouded in mystery - Who were the 2 Russians who died within days of each other?

Mystery has deepened around the death of Russian lawmaker Pavel Antov and his companion in a small town on India's east coast.

What happened: Antov and his aide Vladimir Bidenov died within days of each other. Bidenov was found dead at the same hotel in Rayagada, Odisha on December 22, while Antov died on his 66th birthday on December 25, Firstpost - an Indian news portal reported.

He was reportedly found dead in a pool of blood outside his hotel after "falling" from a third-story window.

Antov was described as a "sausage tycoon" by the report. He was a lawmaker and a member of Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.

In July, Antov reportedly condemned Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on social media. The criticism came after a Russian missile on a residential block in Kyiv killed a man and his seven-year-old daughter and injured the girl's mother.

"To tell the truth, it's extremely difficult to call this anything other than terror," Antov said at the time, but later deleted the WhatsApp message after suffering a backlash. He called the message a "technical error" and a "misunderstanding".

Embassy denies foul play: Bidenov's death was attributed to "heat stroke" by local police superintendent Vivekananda Sharma, Firstpost reported.

Sharma said Antov was "depressed" after his friend's death. A tour guide said Bidenov "had consumed a lot of alcohol" and said he was found lying unconscious in his room surrounded by empty wine bottles.

The Russian Embassy in India said it was aware of the death of the two men and was in contact with their relatives and local authorities.

"As far as we know, the police do not yet see a criminal component to these tragic events," the embassy said, Firstpost reported citing a local Indian TV channel.

The mystery deepens: The deaths of the two men have fueled speculation of a "blockbuster job", Firstpost noted.

An adviser to Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko has said that Russians who "know" too much about the Kremlin's finances and military secrets will "die en masse".< /p>

Gerashchenko said the late lawmaker in India was the richest deputy in the Russian Duma. Gerashchenko went on to cite examples of several other notable Russians who died mysteriously.

In November, Russian crypto-billionaire Vyacheslav Taran became the 19th tycoon to die mysteriously since Putin's invasion of Ukraine began.

Read more: Kremlin warns of 'consequences' as it alleges the physical elimination of Mulling by the United States Of Putin

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